There is no question that if you own a Tesla that long roads trips are pretty easy if not down right boring. But for owners of other EVs this is definitely not the case. Long road trips with other EVs require a lot of time on Plugshare and mapquest trying to sort out what route you need to take. Sometimes you have to search for campgrounds to charge from a NEMA 14-50 outlet since there are no L2 stations where you really need them. And while Nissan has a great charging network there are a few Nissan (and other companies) dealers who won’t let you charge unless you are one of their customers. And then there are the times when you need to charge at a certain location but no one has checked in on Plugshare in the past year and you have no way of knowing if it really works. And sometimes that single station is your only option. You have to decide if it is worth the risk. Or maybe you can use CHAdeMO. Then when you are plotting your route you have to decide how far out of the way are you willing to go to charge at a CHAdeMO system instead of a L2 system. When is the faster charging of CHAdeMO not worth the extra distance you have to travel to get to it instead of using L2? Then of course there is the question of what are you going to do while you are charging? Sometimes you will have to charge at a L2 station that has nothing within walking distance. This is a factor when determining what L2 stations you are going to use. And I am lucky in this respect since I can charge my Zero SR in just under two hours yet have better range than a Leaf. Traveling across North Carolina in a Tesla would require one stop to charge. Using L2 requires me to charge 4-5 times. I am hoping to get a CHAdeMO kit install in a few weeks. But that means I may be able to use two CHAdeMO systems but in some cases would still need to charge briefly on a L2 just to get to the CHAdeMO system because of range issues.

There is no question that long distance travel in an EV is possible depending on what you consider “long range”. Traveling 300 miles in a Tesla is no big deal at all. But traveling 300 miles in any other EV is certainly a big deal requiring a lot of prior planning and certainly a bit of luck to get there. And even then this may require a longer travel day than you are willing to do. Long distance travel in an EV is still very much in the “adventure travel” catagory of traveling.

Well lets just say it people make money doing it in gas powered vehicle, then how much more likely is not paying for fuel going to make you money. I imagine most people who do this sort of work are just doing it due to the fact they are going that way for a visit or perhaps do so as part of regular business trip. In other words to pick up some extra cash. The fact that Bjorn owns a Tesla, to me is another indication that he doing ok with his business.

Right now Steve West and Carl Barlev are driving their Model S cars form Auckland to Cape Reinga to Bluff and back to Auckland in New Zealand. A total of 4175km in a country with not only no Superchargers but almost no EV charging infrastructure at all.